Olympic Park 10km (incorporating the British Masters and VAC Championships)
Saturday 2nd April

It was another successful day for the endurance runners of Ilford AC as they returned from the regular monthly 10km in the Olympic Park with 4 gold 3 silver and 1 bronze British Masters Championship medals.The April race, which also Incorporated the British Masters Championship and the London based Veterans AC Championships, was held on an interesting twisty 3 lap course outside the stadium.

The leading athlete from Ilford was Blair McWhirter who finished 5th overall out of the 500 plus finishers in an impressive 33 mins 45 secs. He was supported by Steve Philcox in 28th with a quick 36 mins 30secs and Paul Holloway in 37 m 49s for 33th. Neil Crisp recorded 38 mins exactly in 36th and Terry Knightley came home 43rd in a time of 38 mins 32 secs,Long serving club member Andy Catton placed 104th in 43m 12s and Steve Parker recorded 44m 16s for 121st. Declan Cullen was 136th in 45m 06s and the group coach Rob Sargent had a run out in 56m 18s in 334th.[shashin type=”album” id=”168″ size=”medium” crop=”n” columns=”max” caption=”n” order=”date” position=”center”]

Best for the ladies Mel Jones placed 22nd out of the 213 women in action in 44m 49s and Nicola Hopkinson was 47th with 50m 18s. Dianne Crisp returned from a long term injury in 65th with 53 mins exactly and there was a new personal best time of 53m 24s for Julia Galea in 70th.There was also a new best time from Nicola Chester of 55m 28s for 89th.Julie Gillender and Pam Jones crossed the line together recording 63m 48s and Kim Baxter completed the team with 71m 56s.

In the Brititsh Master Championships there were gold medals for Mel Jones (F450 and Pam Jones (F75) and silver for Nicola Hopkinson (F50) and a bronze for Dianne Crisp (F50). There women also bagged two team golds in the F45-54 category (Mel Jones, Nicola Hopkinson, Dianne Crisp) and the F55-64 (Julia Galea Kim Baxter and Pam Jones). the men won two silver team medals in the M45-54 (Paul Holloway Neill Crisp Steve Philcox) and the M55-64 (Andy Catton Terry Knightley Steve Parker)

Mel Jones, Pam Jones, Nicola Hopkinson and Dianne Crisp replicated their medals in the VAC Championship.Other Receiving medals in the VAC Championship were Nicola Chester (Gold F35) and Rob Sargent (silver M60). There will probably be a few more awarded but the final rsults have not been finalised at this time

Paris Marathon

Sunday saw Peter Spelman finish his 5th Paris marathon in 04:25:11 equating to 6mins 18secs per km. The Ilford Man was slightly slower than last year’s time of 4:11 but attributed this to much warmer conditions.

Young Athletes Report
Ilford AC athletes smash personal bests

The outdoor Track season started for Ilford AC youngsters this weekend at the Havering athletic club open meeting. A perfect day for racing resulted in some very good performances from the Ilford AC athletes.

First up was Matthew Hick,competing in the U13s Boys for the first time. In a strong field Matthew battled to come second in the 800m in a time of 2.47, just slightly behind his best time ever. Next up was the under 15 Girls 800m race where Isabella Hick ran 2.52 to come home in 6th position.

14 Year old Jordan Hinds was placed in the Senior Womens 800m event. Jordan took the lead from the start and ran away from a quality field to post a suberb Time of 2.31. For her first race on the track this season, this was a great achievement as Jordan took a whole 13 seconds off her personal best.

In the u15s Boys 800m, Ilford AC had 4 athletes in the same race and all athletes ran excellent races. Both Mungo Prior and Farris Patel pushed themselves to the front of the field, followed by a strong athlete from Thurrock. Mungo came to the final 200 in the lead ,followed by the Thurrock athlete and Farris. Farris then battled round the final bend to get himself into a much better position to outsprint the other 2 athletes.
Amazingly Farris broke his personal best by 18 seconds to record an excellent time of 2.16. Mungo in his first ever 800 m race, also ran a superbly to record a time of 2.17.

Also in the field was Jack Halil, who went off slower than usual, but used his great speed at the end to come home in 2.31, 5 seconds off his Personal best.

Finally Bradley Deacon ran a battling 800 m to post a time of 2.40, which was just slightly behind his best ever. This was a good performance from Bradley as his preference is for the longer distances.

Essex Road Relays 2016
A cool overcast Saturday morning greeted Essex road runners as Harwich Runners staged the County Road Relays for the 2nd year in succession. Ilford AC fielded 3 teams with some good success coming away with 2 silver medals. The strong coastal winds of last year were thankfully absent on this occasion affording competitors the opportunity to record some fast times over the 5k measured course along the Dovercourt seafront. Not including a few “no shows” and incomplete teams 14 clubs closed 62 full teams at the final reckoning.

In  the male open race held over 4 legs a storming opening run by Springfield’s lead-off man Scott Cousins posted the intent of a very strong Strider’s team. He was chased all the way by Ilford’s Malcolm Muir (16.9.93) but the gap had grown to over 30 seconds by the first changeover. Southend were back in third. Ilford’s Tom Gardner (16.9.58) put in a sterling effort to redress the deficit overtaking  and putting Ilford in pole position at the 2nd change but with the advantage less than 10 seconds Alex Richards (16.52.03) came under severe pressure on leg 3 and Springfield’s 4th leg runner was clear with a seemingly unassailable  lead. A chasing Blair McWhirter (16.13.45) was able to close slightly but eventually ran out of distance for silver and a total time of 1.5.24.99.

In what is perhaps the strongest category in the county the competition was fierce between the cream of the over 50’s and some excellent times recorded over the 3 legs. Although leading throughout gold medllists Colchester Harriers (total time 54.50.22) were pushed all the way by Ilford AC’s silver squad  (total time 55.24.74) comprising of Terry Knightley (18,53,57), Neil Crisp(18.36.98) and Steve Philcox(17.54.19) with the winning margin being a mere 34 seconds at the end.

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Tony Nixon ran the first leg of an incomplete Ilford over 50’s B team clocking a very respectable time of  19.26.66.

Ilford Ladies also put in a creditable performance in the women’s over 45 section with Julie Gillender (29.13.94)) handing over to Julia Galea (26.11.63) before leaving it to Dianne Crisp (25.35.95), returning to competition after an injury break of 9 months, to bring the team home in a total time of 1.21.1.52.

Fastest times of the day were posted by Scott Cousins of Springfield Striders (15.37.12) and Sarah Stradling of Colchester Harriers (18.11.96) and, accepting that this was only the 2nd running on this course, these both now stand as course records.

Brentwood Half Marathon
Sunday 20 March 2016

A field of over 2800 lined up on a calm Sunday morning for the Brentwood Half Marathon, including 12 entries from Ilford AC. Best of the Ilford squad was Sam Rahman in 28th place in 1 hr 19mins 24s off a steady pace. Next home for the club was Robin McNelis in 1h 20m 48s for 34th and 4th in the M40 category. Steve Philcox placed 46th and 2nd in the M50 age group with 1h 21m 45s , while Neil Crisp’s 1h 23m 22s gave him 4th in the same category and 61st overall. The squad combined to take 3rd spot in the team event.

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The Ilford club’s ladies were in good form with Jenni Sheehan heading the challenge in 24th female with a new personal best of 1h 35m 16s. Bree Nordin was close behind in 27th and 1st in the F55 category with 1h 36m 25s. Mel Jones rewrote her best time for the distance with 1h 38m 24s for 36th spot and a win in the F45 grouping. There was a big improvement for Rachel Halpin of over 8 minutes tom lower her best to 1h 47m 54s while Julia Galea also gained a new personal best time of 1h 57m 49s and victory in the F60 age category.

Also in action were Peter Spelman with 1h 55m 41s, Victoria Morgan, in her debut at the distance, 2h 06m 28s and Doris Gaga, who had a race to forget, 2h 26m 08s.

Other Races

Elsewhere John Batchelor placed 134th out of 212 in the Serpentine monthly 5K last Friday, but was 1st M75, breaking his own age-group course record set last month by 13 sec with 22:21 and finishing 3rd overall on the age-percentage table.

Ilford AC (Norfolk section) fielded a full squad in the Broadland Half Marathon held on Sunday 13th March.

The race, which was hosted by Norwich Road Runners, was centred around the picturesque Broadland village of South Walsham and attracted some 400 entrants.

It was a superb spring day in full sunshine and light winds but the course belied its geographical location and proved a stiff test for the competitors who had to tackle some unwelcome uphill sections in the last 3 miles of the race.

The most notable performance, and first home for Ilford AC, was by Paul Emery who recorded a time of 1:42:15 for 122nd place. He was happy with his time as it was only his second attempt at the distance and first Half Marathon in an Ilford vest since becoming a club member some 6 years ago.

The race was won by James Ashton of Norwich Road Runners in a time of 01:16:35.

On a cool Sunday Morning ideal for running, over 3,500 runners set off on the ‘Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon’.
Ilfords Warrior of the year and staunch Royalist ‘Billy Green’ was first Ilford Athlete home with a commendable 1:49:35 which was a PB for the up and coming young athlete.